Nine Months
by Dancing-Kitten
Summary: They are just two friends who made a drunken mistake and are now dealing with the consequences. Nothing more, nothing less. NatsuLucy.
1. 1st Week: Momentous

_**NINE MONTHS**_

1st Week: Momentous

* * *

Lucy tensely bit her lower lip and studied her toes carefully, waiting for a word, a sound, just _something_ from her team mate and friend sitting next to her on her bed. She had her sheets wrapped tightly around her lithe frame, her body felt weak and warm with embarrassment. She could not believe this happened.

The situation was so awkward that it almost made Lucy forget about her terrible headache. She somehow found the courage to throw a glance at him, but quickly turned away when she realized he was staring at her intensely. Her cheeks flushed and she inched away a little.

She felt horrible. She felt god awful. This was so not her. Lucy wasn't the kind of girl to get drunk and end up in bed with her good guy friend. She wasn't someone who would sleep with a guy she wasn't even in love with. She knew better than that.

Lucy felt an itching in her eyes as she lowered her head a bit. "S-stop looking at me… like that," she mumbled. Like she was still naked. Although she _was_ still naked underneath the covers.

"Sorry," Natsu answered her quietly.

She tried to remember how exactly they ended up here. She reconstructed the events of last night in her mind, from when they had a real blast in the guild, to when everyone decided to play a game involving a lot of alcohol. Lucy vaguely remembered that she and Natsu had been awfully touchy-touchy the whole evening and that at some point he had planted a sloppy, rum-tasting kiss on her lips. But from then on everything was blurry and pretty much totally blank.

"Could you… could you please put on a shirt," she said after a while.

"Um. Sure."

Lucy still looked away when Natsu stood up from the bed, even though he was wearing his boxers. This was so weird. Usually, Natsu would have started teasing her by now. She never would have thought that something like this would actually bother someone like him. But then again, he did have a pulse.

She saw him put on his pants and his shirt from the corner of her eye, waited patiently until he was fully dressed. But even then, Lucy found it impossible to lift her head and look up. Her heart clenched every time she thought about what she had done. What a stupid mistake they had made.

She heard him sigh deeply. "Lucy." She said nothing. "You won't even look at me?"

It wasn't so much a question than it was an observation. Lucy could only weakly shake her head and ultimately buried her face in her knees. She was kind of scared to look at him. Because she didn't want to see the look he was giving her. It had changed. Of course it had changed. There was no way he was going to look at her like he did before ever again. And she wasn't going to either.

"I… I just can't," she managed to whisper. "This is… it's so _embarrassing_."

Natsu sighed again as he sat down on the edge of her bed. "Look," he said really softly. "If I could turn back time, believe me, I would stop myself from getting that drunk. But I can't."

Lucy shook her head once more. "It's not only you. I'm at fault, too. I just don't…" She looked up only an inch. "I don't wanna lose you, Natsu."

"Hey!"

Her eyes widened when Natsu suddenly grabbed her by her arms to make her look at him. His gaze was earnest and truthful and Lucy almost felt a little bit better.

"You can't. Ever," he said to her. "We're still friends, right? Lucy?"

Lucy's mouth opened in wonder at his expression. As if he was begging her to reassure him like he had done with her. That was when she realized that she wasn't the only one who found this situation painful and awkward. She probably wasn't even the one who was feeling the worst here.

She felt her quivering lips curve upward to a small smile. "Of course. We'll always be."

Natsu immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew." With that hint of a grin, he looked more like himself. "You finally looked at me. I was pretty scared here for a sec."

Lucy felt her mouth twitch with guilt. Even though she had said that, she still felt as if it was not entirely true. Even now, she felt uncomfortable with the way his hands rested on her upper arms, but couldn't find the strength to push him away. Not when he looked so lost. She was very certain that something about their relationship would change drastically. And something told her it wasn't going to be a change for the better.

"Just out of curiosity," Lucy finally started. "Do you… you know." Her cheeks flushed. "Remember anything about it?"

This was probably the first time ever that she saw Natsu blush because of a girl. He quickly let go of her like she was a poisonous plant. Lucy watched curiously as he turned around and began to nervously scratch the back of his head.

"Not from when we left Fairy Tail."

"Yeah, same here…"

"I'm never gonna drink with Cana again."

"You know, maybe we haven't done anything after all."

Natsu turned around to her with an expression of pure disbelief. "Lucy, seriously?" he said. "We both were incredibly drunk and woke up naked in the same bed. Go figure."

That was when Lucy threw herself at her bed, burying her face in her pillows. "I know! Sheesh! I'm just trying to find excuses! This is just so weird!" she squealed into the fabric.

Natsu watched as she tore at her hair and pummeled her pillows in somewhat of an ashamed frenzy. He brought a hand up in an attempt to pat her back in a comforting gesture, but then after a second thought let it limply fall back on the mattress. He had a feeling it was better not to touch Lucy right now. When she was like this, she was pretty much unpredictable. Instead he turned away and looked outside the window.

"Then again, maybe you're right," he uttered and he could make out Lucy's face resurfacing from her pillows. "I mean, we both can't remember. Maybe we wanted to, but never got to finish. Maybe we fell asleep or something."

Lucy nodded eagerly. "Yes! That must be it!" she shouted out so suddenly that Natsu flinched. "I don't see a… c-condom lying anywhere, so we can't possibly have done anything! We wouldn't be _that_ stupid, would we?"

"Nah, never." Natsu gave a small nervous smile.

"Ah, I'm so glad," she blushed furiously and fumbled with her sheets, "Since I've been saving myself for my wedding night. I wouldn't be able to get married after something like that."

He suddenly felt a powerful jolt of guilt in his stomach. "O-oh really."

Lucy nodded, and she undoubtedly looked very relieved. Natsu thought that maybe she needed this right now. He guessed she really needed to believe that nothing happened. Even though she knew deep down that it probably did.

"You know, I should probably go home now." Natsu stood up and put on his trademark scarf. "I'm pretty worried about what happened to Happy after we left."

Lucy smiled a little awkwardly at him. "Oh yeah, sure," she said a little too enthused. "I'll see you later then!"

He arched a brow at her. "Yeah. See ya."

The way she was acting, he was getting pretty worried that she would take this too much to heart. After all, she _was_ Lucy and if he knew her just a tad of what he believed, she would probably keep acting this weird for a while. And the worst part was that he had no idea how to fix this.

"Natsu!"

He turned around and saw her blushing.

"Let's keep this a secret."

Natsu sighed as he climbed the window sill. "Sure."

* * *

When Natsu was gone, Lucy's smile immediately disappeared from her face as though wiped off with a towel. She felt queasy. Her head was aching horribly, her insides hurt from a pain that was more of a mental nature than anything else. She felt like the dirt under someone's shoes and she just didn't know why. Why was she making such a big deal out of this?

It was just sex. Sex with her friend. That she had merely platonic feelings for.

Yes, it was true that Lucy didn't remember the previous night. It was true that she hoped she could forget about it and act like it never happened. But the painful truth was that it had happened; the evidence was a throbbing pain between her thighs, a pain she had never felt before. She knew why it was there. She may have been a virgin, but she wasn't entirely stupid.

Little tear drops moistened her sheets and Lucy realized she was crying. How could she have been so stupid? Her father had been right from the start. A seventeen year old girl was in no way capable of taking care of herself alone in a giant city like Magnolia. He had always said she was going to wind up getting knocked up by some thug and become a drug addicted single mother who would sell her body for Crack.

Lucy now saw that same future before her eyes and cried even harder. She had never in her life bought a condom. What for anyway? She had been sure that she would give her virginity to her husband the very same night they would vow to love each other until death would part them. But maybe Natsu had some? He was a guy after all. Guys always walked around with a giant pack of condoms.

With that thought, she sniffled and glanced over at her trash bin. She swiftly stood up, sheet still wrapped tightly around her body and walked over to the silver case. She took a deep breath, wiped away her tears and quickly looked down inside the bin before she could change her mind.

It was there.

Lucy couldn't believe it. There was actually a condom there. No single mom prostitute lifeline. She was officially out of the woods. Lucy sank to her knees and started laughing manically. They had used a condom!

Her laughter died out when she realized she had lost her virginity. To Natsu.

* * *

When Natsu got home that day, he got a glimpse into Lucy's everyday life.

"Welcome home, darling," Lisanna purred playfully as she sat on his couch. "How was your night?"

Natsu almost choked on his own spit. "What the _hell_." This girl, she knew how to put him at a loss. And why was she acting like a housewife?

"Natsu!" Happy cried out as he flew directly into his arms. The little cat looked up at him, obviously sulking. "What happened? Why didn't you come home? Where did you sleep? What about Lucy? You just went and left me behind! I was so worried!"

This cat sure could talk a lot and it wasn't exactly making his headache any better. "Sorry, partner. I… was busy."

Lisanna smirked knowingly at him. "So I've heard."

Sometimes, he felt like strangling her. She had only returned from her little death trip to Edoras about a month ago, but things had quickly reverted back to the way they were before the incident that had everyone thinking she had died happened. Natsu and Lisanna went back to being the best friends they had been before, with Lisanna sometimes annoying the living hell out of him. He hated how she always seemed to have the upper hand in an argument.

"What are you doing here?" He glared half-heartedly at her.

"I actually slept here," she said with a mock sigh. "Really now, Natsu. _Someone_ had to take care of our dear son after all. And since the Daddy decided to spend the night somewhere else, Mommy had to look after him all by herself."

Natsu's glare intensified. "Stop talking like a housewife."

Lisanna flashed him a big, teasing grin. "Looks like we got up with the wrong foot today, eh?" She had a good stretch and leaned back against the sofa. "And here I was so sure that your night's been absolutely _lovely_."

The fire mage gawked at her like she was from another galaxy. Oh bloody hell, she _knew_. There was no mistaking that glint in her eyes. That bitch had known right from the start and now she was here to have a little fun with his guilt.

"What are you guys talking about?" Happy asked, curiously.

Natsu gulped. "Hey, how about you go outside to the pond for some fishing? There's something I need to discuss with Lisanna," he uttered and Lisanna's smile broadened.

"O…kay?" Happy arched a brow and flew outside the nearest window.

When the blue Eksheed was gone, Lisanna crossed her arms in front of her chest and crossed a leg over the other, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Natsu mimicked her gesture and also crossed his arms, although his was more an act of caution.

"Spill it. What do you know?"

Lisanna puckered her lips. "What is there to know?"

"Huh." Natsu knit up his brows, glaring quietly for a while. "You don't know."

"So there's something to know?"

"Not at all."

"Then I can't know, can I?" Lisanna smiled triumphantly.

Natsu's eyes widened. "You _do_ know!"

"Know what?"

"You know what!"

"Do I?"

"The way you're grinning. You know it!"

"So there _is_ something to know."

Natsu was actually speechless. "I… uh… that…" He struggled for words, but quickly gave up. "You tricked me!"

Lisanna giggled at his expression. "So you cheated on me, did you?"

"Stop talking like that," he hissed, cheeks flushed as he flopped down next to her. "How did you find out anyway?"

"What, you think you two were discreet or something?" She rolled her eyes at him. "You're lucky everyone else was pretty much just as wasted as you two. But since I've been helping Mira-nee at the bar, I kind of saw the whole show. From when you were feeling her up at the pool, to when you and Lucy decided to sneak off. You guys were practically eating each other _alive_, you know-"

"Okay, I get the picture." Natsu held up a hand to silence her, then gave a deep sigh. "I did something really stupid, Lisanna."

The white haired girl frowned and put a hand on his arm. "Oh c'mon, Natsu. I'm sure Lucy's not mad or anything, since you were both drunk and stuff…"

"Not that."

Lisanna watched him carefully. She had to admit that she had never seen Natsu so worked up.

"I… I lied to her," he finally admitted. "I said I didn't remember, when actually… I do remember. It's all very fuzzy, but you know. It's there."

"Ah." Lisanna stared quietly at him. "So?"

Natsu leaned back against the couch with a low groan and Lisanna pulled up her legs to turn her body fully around to him, patiently waiting for him to continue the story about Natsu and Lucy's Night of Drunken Passion.

"So," Natsu emphasized. "I shouldn't have done that. It's just that she was trying so hard to make herself believe nothing happened. This thing really got to her. And then she went and said that she was a _virgin_."

"Wait. You took her _virginity_?"

"Apparently I did. Although she wanted to wait until she's… y'know, married."

"Heh." Lisanna grinned to herself. "Lucy, Lucy… So she's not only naughty in Edoras."

Natsu looked almost desperate. "Take this seriously, would you. I'm not in the mood for your little jokes today."

"Fine then, no little jokes," she laughed out loud, patting his head. "Still, I don't get why this is giving you such a hard time. So you two got drunk and had sex. That happened in Edoras, too. And you two recovered from it. Oh, but that was because you were in love there."

The fire mage looked up at his ceiling. Was that just him or was his Erza sandbag glaring at him in a very unpleasant way? His blood froze at the thought what she'll do to him.

Lisanna looked thoughtful. "So the question is easy, really."

"Is it?" he replied lazily.

"Are you in love with Lucy?"

Natsu sighed. "No," he answered flat-out.

"Then it might be difficult," Lisanna said with a frown. "But you used a condom, didn't you?"

Heavy silence.

Lisanna's eyes widened in alarm. "Natsu," she said slowly. "You _did_ use a condom, right?"

"I don't know!" he cried out, clasping his hands over his face. "That part I actually can't remember. I know Macao gave me one, but from when we got naked everything's blurry. I don't know!"

"God, Natsu, you're an idiot. I am never giving you alcohol again," she scoffed.

"Yeah."

"You need to talk to Lucy."

"I know."

"What's a condom?" Happy asked innocently as he flew inside.

Natsu gave a groan and Lisanna waved it off. "You're way too young for that talk." She stood up and looked at the miserable picture Natsu was giving off. "Coffee?"

"_Please_."

* * *

"Morning," Lucy called out somewhat cheerfully into the guild and was welcomed by universal groaning. It almost sounded a little like a concert of pain and weariness.

"Why's she being _so loud_," Gray grumbled, massaging his temples. "Someone please shut her up."

Lucy kicked his leg very hardly as she sat down next to him and Gray gave a pained noise. "So I see everyone had a great morning," she scoffed wryly.

"We're still trying to figure out what the hell happened yesterday," Cana snorted as she sat cross-legged on the table and surprisingly held a cup of coffee instead of the usual barrel full with booze. If even Cana had a massive hangover, it really had to have been one hell of a party.

Lucy glared viciously at Cana. "You. This is all your fault to begin with."

"Agreed," Gray uttered miserably.

Juvia leaned kind of awkwardly against Gray's shoulder. "Juvia can't believe you made her drink that much," she mumbled weakly.

"Hey." Cana crossed her arms, frowning at her friends. "I never forced you to participate. It was your own decision to get all wasted."

"Yeah, because _you_ got Master so riled up about that stupid drinking contest that he ordered everyone to take part," Lucy snapped as Mirajane brought her a cup of steaming coffee. "Oh, thanks, Mira. By the way, where's Erza?"

Mirajane giggled, one of her hands covering her mouth. "She's passed out over there in the corner."

Lucy glanced at the spot in the guild Mirajane had pointed to and saw the famous Titania in all her armored glory sitting at a table and leaning against the wall, sleeping. The blonde felt her mouth fall open at the unexpected sight. Honestly, what kind of party had that been?

"Has she been here the whole night?"

"We tried to wake her, but nothing works," Gray explained with a tired smirk.

Cana was slapping her leg, laughing loudly. "See that? The great Titania's so not good with alcohol."

Lucy shrugged it away and blew at her hot coffee. "So I take it you guys don't remember anything about yesterday either," she said.

"Lucy-san neither?" Juvia asked.

"Nope. Total black out."

"Oh, that's too bad," said a saccharine female voice.

Lucy looked up to see a widely smiling Lisanna approaching their table. Behind her was Happy and none other than the reason her headache was getting even worse: Natsu Dragneel. Lucy promptly choked on her coffee and started coughing as if she was struggling for dear life.

"Whoa!" Gray started violently patting her back to help her out.

Mirajane worriedly rubbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Lucy, is the coffee too hot?"

"I-I'm alright," Lucy managed to hoarsely squeeze out between coughs as she glanced up at Natsu at the same time that he looked at her. She quickly looked away. "H-hi."

"Yo," Natsu mumbled his reply sheepishly into his scarf.

Lisanna glanced from Natsu to Lucy and then grinned with obvious amusement before leaning down to the blonde celestial mage. "So Lucy, how are you feeling today?" she purred all too sweetly. "Did you have a _blast_ last night?"

Lucy's eyes widened with horror. Oh dear god. This couldn't be. Oh, he didn't. Did he?

She threw a dangerous glare in Natsu's direction who nervously looked away, and she knew in that moment that she had not been wrong. Lisanna knew what happened last night. Oh, that no-good bastard of a stray cow. Lucy shot out of her seat like a bolt of lightning and went straight for Natsu.

"You." She grabbed him by the arm. "Let's have a nice talk outside."

Lisanna watched Natsu being dragged outside the guild by the fuming girl with utmost satisfaction. She knew her Natsu; he would have never had the guts to make the first step. And those two really needed to talk it out. But she decided to not tell them that when this incident happened in Edoras, Lisanna was actually the one to help them out there, too.

"Some things don't change," she sighed.

Happy threw her a huffy look. "Will someone explain what's going on?"

* * *

"L-Lucy, you're choking me!"

"I don't care."

They walked some feet away from Fairy Tail, with Lucy dragging him along by his scarf violently and Natsu awkwardly stumbling along. When they reached a deserted alleyway, Lucy let go of the scaly material and whirled around so suddenly that Natsu backed away a step.

"O-okay," he said anxiously as Lucy kept glaring at him. "You're probably a little upset right now. I-I understand that."

Lucy was tapping her foot angrily against the ground. "Oh no, my friend, I've moved past upset and straight to _pissed off_," she spat at him and poked him hard in the chest. "I can't believe you told her! You promised to keep it a secret!"

"I didn't tell her! Look, this girl's an eagle, she sees everything!"

"You mean she found out by herself?"

Natsu's cheeks turned a bit rosy. "She said we were pretty obvious. What with the way we were making out and stuff."

"Wait just a minute." Lucy raised her hands in disbelief. "We were making out _in the guild_?"

"That's what she said." He paused for a bit, then realized what he had said and chuckled about his words.

Lucy whacked him over the head. "Be serious, you jerk!" She sighed deeply and brought a hand up to touch her forehead. "I can't believe this is happening to me."

"But good news is that everyone else is just as blacked out as we are, so…"

"Yeah, that is somewhat of a relief," she said quietly. "I guess it's okay as long as Lisanna doesn't say anything…"

Natsu nodded quickly. "And she won't. She's not like her sister, I promise."

Lucy also gave a slight nod. Despite of the situation they were in, she couldn't help but feel a little bit relieved. The way they had bickered just now had finally felt a little more like them again. She had been so scared that everything would be ruined, but after this, she thought, maybe there was still hope that they could continue being friends. Going on merry adventures and having fun together, like they always used to. Maybe.

"Um." She lifted her head to see Natsu fidget uncomfortably. "There's something I still need to tell you, actually."

Lucy's face immediately paled to an alarming degree. He couldn't be about to do what she thought he was about to do. It was impossible. They were team mates, and friends on top of that. Yes, they did share a drunken mishap, but was he really going to make things even more complicated for them? She knew that she didn't like him that way. As uch as she hated it, she needed to be straight with him.

"I'm sorry, Natsu," she sighed sadly.

He looked up, confused. "Sorry? Why?"

"I… I just don't have those kinds of feelings for you."

Silence.

"Uh, what?"

"I'm really sorry. I know it must be hard, but I'd feel better if we could just remain friends."

Natsu stared at her for a while, and then burst out laughing really loud. Lucy was taken aback to say the least and watched in bewilderment as he held his stomach, laughing maniacally.

She felt herself blush a little. "Wh-what's so funny?"

"Sorry, Lucy," he managed to gasp. "I don't like you like that either. I guess I'm just glad we feel the same way and it doesn't have to be awkward anymore."

Lucy blinked at him. "So… you don't love me?"

"Oh no, I do," Natsu grinned. "As a nakama."

She actually smiled at that. A real smile. "Oh god, that's good. I was so scared you'd be crushed," she breathed in relief. She felt as if a load was taken off her shoulder and Natsu's bright smile just reassured her even more.

"Yeah, me too."

"So then what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Ah. Yeah." Natsu ran a hand through his rosy colored hair, cheeks heating up. "The truth is, I lied. When I said that I didn't remember. I actually do remember the… specific parts."

Lucy gaped at him as if he was an alien. He could not be serious. She felt as if her body just flushed from her toes to her ears, and quickly slung her arms around herself in embarrassment before she turned away from him.

"Oh my god! Don't look at me! You're never allowed to look at me again!"

"Wha- NO! I didn't mean that!" Natsu quickly cried out, waving it off. "I mean more like… _how_ it happened. You know, the stuff leading up to it."

The blonde shut her mouth abruptly, eyes wide. "Re… really?"

"You wanna know?"

"Yeah. No. Yes. Yes, tell me." Natsu opened his mouth, but Lucy quickly cut in, "No, don't! I don't wanna know. Don't tell me."

"Whatever you say."

"Tell me!"

"Well…"

"NO! Don't!" Lucy took a deep breath. "I'm sure. I don't wanna hear about it."

"All right then," Natsu said. "It's just that…" He trailed off.

"What? What is it now?"

He gave a sigh and looked away. "I can't remember if we used a condom."

Lucy stared at him for a while, unsure what to make of this situation. On one hand, she would have loved to leave him in the dark and see him freak out some more. But then again, the guy deserved to know. She figured it wouldn't be fair, since he was just as troubled by the whole thing as she was. Maybe even more so. She knew that guys had terrible commitment issues and an unwanted pregnancy could easily make a guy like that panic. So she decided to tell him the truth.

"Don't worry." Natsu looked up at her. "I found a used one in the trash."

And just like that, he was beaming as if he just found Igneel. "Seriously?"

Lucy couldn't help but smile at his relief. "Yes, seriously. We're safe here, dummy. Told you we wouldn't be _that_ stupid."

"Oh man." He laughed in relief, sinking against a wall nearby. "Oh crap. Shit, there's a god. There's a god and he loves me. Oh, thank you, man!"

The blonde giggled at him and slid down the wall to sit next to him, even though the ground was dirty. They didn't care. "You sure are relieved."

Natsu looked over at her, surprised. "Well, aren't you?" he exclaimed. "I mean, it would've been terrible if you had gotten pregnant or something. I am so not ready to be a dad. I don't even know where mine is."

Lucy nodded. "Tell me about it."

They sat there in comfortable silence, both sucked up in their own relief. After some time, Lucy inched closer and rested her head against Natsu's shoulder, smiling to herself. Natsu threw a glance at her golden mass of hair, her pigtail tickling his chin. He grinned warmly and playfully flicked her forehead. Lucy giggled.

"Hey," she said after a while. "I'm glad it was you."

His grin grew wider. "Right back at ya."

* * *

_Hi there, this is Dancing Kitten speaking. I'm glad you decided to check out my humble attempt at writing a fanfiction for this adorable couple. I've read a lot about them and realized that this theme has never been tried before. I thought it might spice the fandom up a bit and I'm a sucker for stories like that anyway. I apologize if the characters seem OOC, but this is my first try, so please be gentle. I'll try to improve._

_About Lisanna. I'm aware that this is probably a whole new approach to her relationship with Natsu, but I really do see her like this. Her teasing always seemed of a friendly nature to me. I think they are merely the best of friends and I wanted to test how much I could play with that._

_I'd be glad if you let me know what you think and what I can do better. Or at least that you enjoyed it._


	2. 2nd Week: Realization

_**NINE MONTHS**_

2nd Week: Realization

* * *

One week after the big drinking contest, Natsu was still all smiles, even more than usual. Not only that, Mirajane noticed in wonder, he was actually nice to everyone. Of course, Natsu was a good guy, but when he was in Fairy Tail, he would always start the occasional fights with his fellow guild mates, male or female. Especially with Gray. But the scene she was watching now was entirely new to the barkeep.

"Yo, Gray, do you pray to god?"

Gray almost spit out his beverage. "The hell-"

"You should." Natsu was dead serious. "I swear he's up there and he listens."

"Ah," Gray said and arched a brow in confusion. "Is this a new way of starting a fight?"

Mirajane was very bewildered. That was definitely not the usual Natsu. Had something happened? The barkeep clasped a hand over her mouth when something wonderful occurred to her. Could Natsu perhaps be in love? And if yes, who was the lucky girl? Lucy? Maybe her Lisanna? Or even Erza?

"Why so lost in thought, Mira-nee?"

Speak of the devil, Mirajane thought and smiled sweetly at her little sister. "Oh, nothing at all. I've just been wondering what was up with Natsu."

Lisanna raised an eyebrow. "Why exactly is that?"

"Don't you think he's acting a little weird?" Mirajane whispered as she leaned over to her sister.

Lisanna turned herhead and found Natsu attacking Jet and Droy from behind, babbling how god was such a fair guy and all. Lisanna couldn't help but smirk knowingly. So he was still on that. She remembered well how relieved Natsu had been after Lucy had told him that they had in fact used a condom. He had even started dancing around cheerfully with Happy after he had finished filling her in about the details of their talk. Of course Happy still didn't quite get what was going on.

"I don't see what's weird," Lisanna finally said. "Natsu's a cheerful guy. Just leave him."

Mirajane furrowed her brows. "Yes, but-"

"Mira-chan! Can we get three beers over here?"

"Coming right up!" Mirajane smiled at her little sister. "Take care of the bar for me, okay? We'll talk about this later."

Lisanna rolled her eyes, smirking. "Sure thing, sis."

The white haired girl was actually happy that her older sister had been called out. She really hated lying to her family, especially Mirajane. Her brother wasn't completely stupid, but very oblivious to everything remotely romantic or sexual; always saying how he had to focuse on becoming a strong man first. But Mirajane, she was an entirely different story. Lisanna was half-sure that her sister already suspected something. It was just really difficult to keep acting like she didn't know anything. But she had promised Natsu to keep it a secret and she really didn't want to face Lucy's wrath. Moreover, she felt kind of special being the only one who knew about it.

"You didn't tell her, right?"

Lisanna startled when she suddenly found herself merely inches away from Lucy's face. The blonde was blushing furiously with a frown on her face and stared at Lisanna in dreadful anticipation. Lisanna, trying to not show that Lucy had almost scared her out of her skin, put on a nervous smile and backed away a few inches.

"Wh-what?"

"Mira-san." Lucy leaned in a little more, whispering, "You didn't tell her about me and Natsu, did you? He-he told me that you found out."

Lisanna put a finger on her chin in mock wonder. "Oh, I dunno, did I perhaps?"

"Stop joking around," Lucy hissed under her breath.

The white haired one offered a warm smile. "Don't worry, Lucy," she said as she took Lucy's hands in hers in a comforting gesture. "I'd never do that. You don't have to tell me what a chatterbox my sister can be. You'd probably never hear the end of it. Besides, I promised I wouldn't say anything, didn't I?"

Lucy gave a moan of relief and squeezed Lisanna's hands tightly. "Oh, I knew you wouldn't. I'm sorry for freaking out." She let her head rest on the counter, sighing deeply. "It's just, ever since that thing, I've been feeling kind of out there. It's like I'm not myself lately."

"Well, I think that's normal. You're not that guy after all." Lisanna pointed her chin at a happy Natsu.

Lucy lifted her head and looked over at her fire breathing team mate slash one night stand, blowing another beat sigh through her full lips. He was so joyful. More than she had ever seen him before. She knew that in his place, she would be just as glad and relieved. But no matter how much she wished she could, she couldn't get out of her shoes. She was stuck in this mess, in this terrible situation with no idea how to get out.

Her face darkened a little. "He sure is happy."

"He's a guy," Lisanna almost scoffed and shrugged it away. "They'll always be insensitive."

Lucy looked down, frowning. "I guess."

That was when Lisanna realized how pale looking her blonde friend was. Truthfully, she didn't look good at all. She had slight bags underneath her auburn eyes, and if she looked really closely, Lucy's hair was kind of messy and unkempt. It was obvious that she had tried to bring more color to her face with makeup, but Lisanna could see it. She could see that Lucy wasn't feeling well. At all.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" The blonde lifted her head, puzzled. "You know you can tell me. There's something bothering you, isn't there?"

Lucy was quiet for a while, then gulped and closed her eyes. "You… you're the only one I can talk to right now. So I'm gonna have to bother you with my problems," she uttered very soft-like. "Do you have some time?"

"Well yeah, as you can see."

"No, I mean… Could you come with me for a bit?" She nervously played with her fingers.

Lisanna eyed her curiously, and then shrugged. "I guess that's okay." She cupped her mouth with both hands and called out to her sister, "Sis! I'm gonna go hang out with Lucy!"

"Oh, that's so nice! Don't be late!"

"Sheesh, I'm not a kid anymore," Lisanna mumbled angrily, throwing a scowl at Mirajane who was waving cheerfully.

"Let's go?" Lucy asked sheepishly.

"Right."

* * *

Natsu watched intriguingly as Lucy left the guild with Lisanna. What were those two up to? He knew they got along rather well, but they didn't really hang out much, just the two of them. Up until now, they had only exchanged friendly small talk every now and then, when they were in the guild, but other than that…

It hit him like a thunderbolt. Were they going somewhere to talk about _him_? His eyes widened at the realization. But Lucy had told him she didn't have romantic feelings for him. He had actually thought that the issue was in the past now. But what else could she need Lisanna for? She was the only one who knew about what happened.

He had very bad feeling about this…

"What's the matter, dumbshit? You look like crap."

Natsu scowled at someone the first time in a week. "Shut up, popsicle."

Gray actually grinned. "So you still know how to make that face," he scoffed. "Good, your stupid grin really started to freak me out. What was with that anyway?"

"Can't I be happy?"

"You can. In an orderly fashion."

"What does _that_ mean?" Natsu grumbled as he took a sip of a fire drink.

"I know, you're a happy-go-lucky person, but you were acting like you're on drugs or something," Gray said, shrugging. "Seriously, what's going on? Did you get laid or something?"

The fire mage promptly choked on his drink and started patting his chest hardly to catch his breath. Gray looked over at him indifferently and waited patiently until Natsu had stopped coughing to turn around and look for Mirajane in irritation, mostly to give her an earful. She was too far away to even notice him. But what was with all the people choking on their drinks lately in here? Something strange must be in those beverages.

Gray gave Natsu a violent flap on the back and the fire mage actually calmed down after that. "Kidding, man. No need to freak out. I know there's no way you'd ever get laid."

Natsu glared viciously at him. "Well, maybe I did get laid!"

"Yeah, right." The ice mage burst out laughing. "Maybe in a million years or more."

"Maybe it was last week after that party!"

Gray shot out of his seat, visibly irritated. "You're lying!"

Natsu crossed his arms, grinning in triumph. "Now, are you really sure about that?" he purred.

"That's just impossible! There's no way you can score with a chick and I can't!"

"Gray-sama can always score with Juvia," the water mage cooed sweetly from somewhere behind them and Gray flushed an alarming shade of crimson.

"You! Don't even joke about that!"

"Heh." Natsu smirked up at his rival, his expression sickeningly smug. "Beat you again, sucker."

By now, Gray looked beyond furious with jealousy. "With who!"

"None of your business."

"Then it didn't happen!"

"Oh, but it did."

"With who!"

"It's a secret."

"Then it didn't happen!"

Macao gave a loud groan from the table next to theirs. "Do you even realize how pointless your argument is?"

"You shut up, old man!"

"Fine."

"What are you fighting about?" Happy asked cheerfully as he landed next to Natsu.

Natsu and Gray exchanged meaningful looks. "Nothing," they chorused calmly.

Happy flew away angrily. "You're always excluding me! I'm gonna tell Erza!"

"No, wait! We're sorry!"

* * *

"Holy crap," was the only unsightly thing that occurred to Lisanna.

Lucy nodded meekly, her brows furrowing even further. Lisanna could only stare at her blonde friend in downright shock, her eyes wide and disbelieving. One part of her brain was panicking and hoping that she had just misheard the blonde, while the other part was busy pondering what she could do or say to comfort Lucy. But she remained stunned, silent, completely and utterly blank.

"H-how bad is this?" Lucy sputtered faintly.

Lisanna's mouth opened, and then closed. Then opened again after a while, "Pretty bad." She quickly shook her head to snap out of it when she saw Lucy's crushed expression. "I-I mean, are you really hundred percent sure? Maybe you just counted wrong or something."

"No, I'm sure," said the blonde celestial mage quietly. "I should've gotten it about six days ago. I've never been this late before. Th-that's why…"

"Oh shit," Lisanna muttered in a sigh, touching her forehead. "Oh damn it, Lucy-"

"I know!" Lucy cried out as she dropped down to sit on the park bench. "I-I'm totally freaking out here. What am I going to do? Just what the heck am I going to do?"

The white haired girl determinedly shook her head. "No, this can't be. It's impossible. You guys used a condom." She sat down next to Lucy, eyes still wide. "There's gotta be an explanation. It's gotta be a puberty thing or something."

"Well, you know," Lucy uttered sheepishly. "I read that condoms only work like 97 percent of the time…"

"What?" Lisanna screeched, horrified. "You mean, three percent of the time they don't even work?"

Lucy gave a deep sigh. "As you can see."

Lisanna fell silent when her friend lowered her head with an expression she couldn't quite figure out. She looked like she was either on the brink of crying miserably or laughing hysterically. Lisanna knew that Lucy needed her right now, and she would definitely be there for her and help her through this. She may have not known this Lucy for that long, but they were friends. They were family as members of Fairy Tail.

She would get her through this. Somehow.

The best thing she could come up with for now was to throw her thin arms around the blonde and pull her close in a gentle hug. Lucy's eyes widened at the contact until Lisanna brought a hand up to pat her hair comfortingly, squeezing her tightly.

"It's okay, Lucy. I'm here for you." Her soothing whispers tingled in Lucy's ears. "We'll figure something out. I'll help you, I promise."

Lucy couldn't fathom exactly why, but the situation left her feeling so helpless and vulnerable that she couldn't stop the tears that were slowly filling up her eyes and falling down her cheeks. Soon she was sobbing into Lisanna's sweater, her friend continuing to whisper comforting words to her until she wasn't shaking so violently anymore and her sobs had quietened down.

The blonde sniffed a few times. "I-I'm so scared," she spluttered feebly. "If… if I really am… I-I don't know what to do. This is all too soon, too fast. It's so not how it was supposed to happen. I wanted to be married for at least a year before I'd even _think_ about… And- and _Natsu_-"

"Hey," Lisanna said energetically, drawing back to look at Lucy. "Forget about Natsu for now. You have other problems to take care of before you can start thinking about that doofus."

Lucy gave a slow nod and wiped away her tears. "You're right," she said, her voice hoarse from crying. "I need to… you know…"

Lisanna's roamed over the various shops in Magnolia's city centre. She saw a gift shop, multiple boutiques, a supermarket, barbershops, and then finally at one corner…

A drug store.

"Oh," she said slowly. "So this is why you brought me here."

Lucy nodded wordlessly, her cheeks coloring a pale shade of rose.

Lisanna smiled warmly, sighing. "You're too embarrassed to buy one?"

She quietly nodded again.

"All right, leave it to me." Lucy's head rocketed up, eyes wide. Lisanna had stood up and now grinned brightly at her. "You're lucky that we three siblings all know the secrets of transformation magic off pat. Mira-nee isn't the only one who can transform into anyone she knows. I can only successfully swap heads, but it should be enough for this."

Lucy watched in awe as a pink magical seal appeared above Lisanna's head. Within the blink of an eye, her short white hair grew longer and slowly changed into wavy dark blue hair down to the small of her back. Her eyes became more pointy shaped and bright red, and her lips grew slightly smaller, along with a sharper nose. Before Lucy knew, there was a Mediterranean beauty standing before her with a smug smile on her mature face.

"It's someone I met in Edoras," Lisanna explained. "This should work, right?"

Lucy felt like crying again, out of gratefulness this time. "Thank you, Lisanna," she said with a warm smile. "I wouldn't know what to do without you."

* * *

Cana sincerely thought that life was very boring these days.

Maybe it was because she was a member of Fairy Tail and no matter what happened in that guild, it would always end with something exciting. Day after day, at least something would come up. But ever since that huge drinking contest she had initiated about two weeks ago, everything was quiet. People even refrained from touching alcohol.

She wondered what the hell happened that night that everyone would act that way. She knew she passed out about halfway through the evening. Truthfully, Cana had already been pretty much completely wasted when she had proposed the idea of a drinking contest. And before the winner was crowned, Makarov, she had already been in dreamland.

Cana really wanted to know. But almost no one in the guild seemed to remember anything about that night. It was as if the whole guild's memories had been erased from the point they had started drinking. Alcohol truly could be a scary thing. Of course, that didn't stop her from drinking.

Considerably cheerfully, at least as cheerful as Cana can be, she opened the cap of her bottle of good old Whiskey as she walked down the main street of Magnolia toward Fairy Tail. She hadn't had alcohol of a quality this high in a while. But seeing as her last job went rather well, she figured it wouldn't hurt to treat herself to an outstanding mouthful of this first-class booze.

Just as she was about to take a sip, she noticed something bright in the local park. Bewildered, Cana stopped in her tracks when she realized it was a magic seal. Knowing it could only be someone from the guild, she sidled up a little closer and finally made out two girls, one with blonde hair and one with white.

Lucy with… Mirajane? No, the hair was too short. Lisanna? Lisanna!

Cana was just about to walk up and brightly call out her hello, when it occurred to her that Lisanna had just transformed into a very suspicious looking lady. Maybe it was just the spur of the moment, she didn't really know why, but the card mage hid behind a corner and watched them curiously. What could they be up to that they needed magic for? Were they in the middle of a mission or something? But then again, since when did those two hang out together?

She couldn't deny that she was interested to see what they were planning. She ignored the weird glances everyone around her was throwing her and instead watched in anticipation as Lisanna left Lucy sitting on the park bench and walked towards what looked like a drug store.

A mission involving a drug store? That sounded suspicious.

Cana looked over to Lucy who by now got up from the bench and was walking back and forth nervously. Overall, she looked very wary of her surroundings. Definitely suspicious. Cana quickly hid behind a wall when Lucy looked in her direction.

After another five minutes that felt like an eternity to the card mage, Lisanna finally came out of the drug store, holding a small package in her hands. Cana's eyes widened in horror when she realized what exactly it was that Mirajane's little sister was carrying back to Lucy. There was no way she was wrong about it. She was familiar with the concept of those little things; she knew that it couldn't be anything else.

This left her wondering what Lisanna could possibly need it for. There was no way it was for Lucy. The blonde was probably the most old-fashioned and romantic person she knew. Lucy had told her often enough that she was going to save herself for her wedding night, every time Cana had cooed how amazing a male body could be and what they could use it for.

It could only be Lisanna.

The girl may act innocent and goody-goody, but still waters ran deep. Cana wouldn't put it past her at all. She must've gotten it on with a guy after that party. Although she couldn't remember if Lisanna even touched any alcoholic drink in the first place. In any way, she had to tell someone about what she just saw, or else it would probably tear her apart like that dwarf in the folk tale. The only ones she definitely had to stop from learning about this were Mirajane and Elfman.

She watched the two girls turning a corner to the street that lead to Lucy's apartment. She had figured that Lisanna would want to use it there. It was way too dangerous in the guild or in the girl's dorms. Cana gave a deep sigh of defeat. This was huge news.

The minute Cana decided this was none of her business, someone put a small hand on her shoulder that made her screech very high-pitched and almost jump out of her skin. She whirled around to face a startled Levy, hand still raised uncertainly.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh god, it's just you, Levy," Cana rasped out, clasping a hand over her racing heart. "Don't scare me like that."

Levy cocked her head at Cana. "What were you doing?"

Cana stared at her quietly for a moment, and then looked around as if to check if someone was eavesdropping on them. "I guess it's okay if I tell you. I've gotta get it out, or else I'm gonna burst!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'll warn you. This is huge."

* * *

"Lisanna bought a pregnancy test!"

"Shh!" Cana hissed with a finger on her lips. "Keep it down, will you?"

Levy flinched, cautiously checking around before whispering, "But this is so huge! No, it's bigger than huge! Or even bigger than that! Wh-what's bigger than huge?"

Cana arched a brow. "This?"

"Exactly!" Levy exclaimed, voice tumbling with shock. "Who do you think she slept with?"

Cana put a hand around her chin thoughtfully. "Well, that's the head scratcher," she said. "Only one that comes to mind would be Natsu. But he wouldn't do that with Lisanna, she's like his best friend. After Happy of course."

Levy nodded eagerly. "Agreed, it has to be someone else."

"Let's go catch her red handed."

When she saw Cana's mischievous grin, Levy's eyes widened. "What? Are you serious?"

Cana smirked at her. "Why not? It's just us." Levy fidgeted uncertainly, and Cana nudged her in the side. "C'mon, aren't you dying to know if she's pregnant or not? They're going to Lucy's place right now. I'm sure she's gonna take it there."

Levy sheepishly played with her fingers. "I am kind of curious…"

"What did you just say?"

Cana and Levy froze stiff at the sound of the dangerously calm female voice. There was only one person, one _woman_, in the world who had the miraculous ability to sound composed and furious at the same time. And the very same woman was probably the most fearsome and respectable person in all of Fairy Tail.

Erza Scarlet.

"E-Erza!" Levy squealed, sweat forming on her forehead.

"Oh crap," Cana groaned.

Erza crossed her arms over her heavy armor and raised a brow, staring in sublimity. "I'm waiting for an explanation. What you just said. Repeat it, Cana," she said sternly.

Cana let her eyes roam over the Titania and caught sight of an enormous blood soaked axe that she was carrying atop her large cart. She felt herself shrink away just a bit as she gulped. That was probably a little souvenir from the mission she had just returned from. God may help them she wouldn't use it on them.

The brunette quickly waved her hands, laughing anxiously. "Well, you see, that was just-"

"It's true, Cana saw it!" Levy suddenly blurted out.

"LEVY!"

It was only then that Levy realized she had just involuntary blurted it out and clasped her hands over her mouth in alarm. "I-I'm sorry," she spluttered even more high-pitched than usual, "Erza has that look…"

"So it's true then."

Erza's expression was like made of stone, solemn and dangerously calm. Levy backed away to hide behind Cana whose palms felt distressingly moist by now. The tension became more and more suffocating, until the scarlet haired Titania closed her eyes and gave an overwhelmed sigh.

"Let's go then. I'm coming with you."

"What?"

Erza furrowed her brows angrily. "Someone needs to give Lisanna an earful. How could she be so irresponsible?" She narrowed her eyes when Cana opened her mouth to object, "I am not taking no for an answer."

Cana gave a sigh. "Fine then. Just get rid of that axe first."

* * *

"Achoo!"

"Bless you."

"Thanks," Lisanna sniffed and rubbed her nose with a tissue she found in Lucy's bathroom. "Either I'm coming down with a cold or someone's talking about me behind my back."

Lucy giggled. It sounded kind of forced. "You're too paranoid, Lisanna."

Lisanna answered with a small smile. She leaned back against Lucy's washbowl, impatiently tapping her fingers against the cold stone, her gaze focused on the stick in Lucy's hands. She could tell just by looking that there must be a whole firework of emotion going through her blonde friend. She knew it from the way Lucy's feet were restlessly twitching as she sat on top of her furry toilet lid and how concentrated she was staring at the thing in her hand that had the power to change her life forever.

Finally, Lucy threw her head back with a groan. "God, how much longer?"

Lisanna peeked at the clock from the corner of her eye. "One more minute," she murmured. "This is really vexing. I'm just as nervous as if it were mine."

The blonde gave a humorless laugh. "Then you can guess what I'm feeling."

"Um, Lucy," Lisanna began really soft-like, as if she was scared to hurt her friend. "What will you do if it's positive? I mean… And this is just rhetorically asking. Would you… would you keep it?"

Lucy actually stopped breathing for a moment. She hadn't even thought about that. All that had been in her head was that it was too big for her to handle and that it couldn't possibly be true. She didn't even once think about the one question that was the biggest right now. If this test were to turn out positive, what would she do? And how on Earth was she going to tell Natsu?

Her fingers cramped tighter around the stick. "I-I don't know," she whispered weakly. "I'm only seventeen. I don't have a steady income, just those few missions I occasionally go to and even then Natsu and the guys always manage to ruin it somehow. I'm not married, nor am I in a relationship. This… this wouldn't be good for the… the…" She couldn't even say the word.

Lisanna nodded understandingly. "I know. Sorry for bringing it up," she said. "Even though we don't know the result yet."

"No, I…" Lucy lifted her head a little. "I do need to think about it."

"I just want you to know, if it's positive, we'll all be-"

"I know." Lucy smiled and Lisanna returned the gesture.

The stick in Lucy's hand suddenly let out a soft beeping sound. Two pairs of eyes, one auburn and one blue, widened at the faint noise and what it meant. Or could mean. Lucy's hands started trembling as her eyes focused on the still empty tiny box on it.

"I-it's time," she gasped.

Lisanna lunged forward and dropped to her knees in front of her blonde friend, grabbing Lucy's hands both to be a support for her and to have better view on the result. Both girls watched in anxious expectation as a small grey line appeared on the left side of the result box. Lucy nervously licked her lips, her breathing quickening and her heart hammering painfully in her chest. Her hands were shaking violently by now, and then slowly, very slowly, another grey line appeared on the right side.

Lisanna stared at it in horror. "Wh-what does it mean?"

Lucy's hand shot forward to hastily grab the instruction sheet from her dresser. Her eyes flew over the words until they reached a drawing of the test and what it meant when there were two lines. Her eyes widened alarmingly when she realized the meaning of those words. With a dry mouth, she let her hands sink slowly. She was too shocked to even cry.

"Shit. Shit," she whispered, terrified. "Shit…"

Lisanna took the instruction sheet from Lucy's hands to see for herself. Her mouth opened wordlessly in shock and she quickly looked back up at Lucy, the sheet in one hand and the stick in her other one hanging limply.

It was positive.

"Oh."

* * *

_Wow! I never expected to get so many positive reviews for the first chapter. It made me really happy. Although I knew that a theme like this would most likely be welcomed with open arms. If we're honest, it can't really get any cuter, right?_

_I really loved playing with Lucy and Lisanna's relationship and personalities. I don't know why, but I really want to see them become close friends. Lots of people say they're similar to each other. They're like destined to be best friends or something. At least that's how I want to see it._

_Thank you all so much. I hope you like this installment as well._


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